Virgil Flowers kicked around for a while before joining the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. First it was the army and the military police, then the police in St. Paul, and finally Lucas Davenport brought him into the BCA, promising him, "We'll only give you the hard stuff." He's been doing the hard stuff for three years now, but never anything like this.

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Flowers is only in his late 30's, but he's been around the block a few times, and he doesn't think much can surprise him anymore. He's wrong. It's a hot, humid summer night in Minnesota, and Flowers is in bed with one of his ex-wives (the second one , if you're keeping count ) when the phone rings. It's Lucas Davenport. There's a body in Stillwater, two shots to the head, found near a veterans' memorial. And the victim has a lemon in his mouth.

Rough Country: A Virgil Flowers Novel

Virgil's always been known for having a somewhat active, er, social life, but he's probably not going to be getting too many opportunities for that during his new case. While competing in a fishing tournament in a remote area of northern Minnesota, he gets a call from Lucas Davenport to investigate a murder at a nearby resort.

Bad Blood: A Virgil Flowers Novel

One late fall Sunday in southern Minnesota, a farmer brings a load of soybeans to a local grain elevator - and a young man hits him on the head with a steel bar, drops him into the grain bin, waits until he's sure he's dead, and then calls the sheriff to report the "accident." Suspicious, the sheriff calls in Virgil Flowers, who quickly breaks the kid down...and the next day the boy's found hanging in his cell. Remorse? Virgil isn't so sure....

Shock Wave

The thrilling new Virgil Flowers novel from the #1 New York Times best-selling author. The superstore chain PyeMart has its sights set on a Minnesota river town, but two very angry groups want to stop it: local merchants, fearing for their businesses, and environmentalists, predicting ecological disaster. The protests don't seem to be slowing the project, though, until someone decides to take matters into his own hands.

Mad River

Bonnie and Clyde, they thought. And what's-his-name, the sidekick. Three teenagers with dead-end lives, and chips on their shoulders, and guns. The first person they killed was a highway patrolman. The second was a woman during a robbery. Then, hell, why not keep on going? As their crime spree cuts a swath through rural Minnesota, some of it captured on the killers' cell phones and sent to a local television station, Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigator Virgil Flowers joins the growing army of cops trying to run them down.

Storm Front: Virgil Flowers, Book 7

In Israel, a man clutching a backpack searches desperately for a boat. In Minnesota, Virgil Flowers gets a message from Lucas Davenport: You're about to get a visitor. It's an Israeli cop, and she's tailing a man who's smuggled out an extraordinary relic - a copper scroll revealing startling details about the man known as King Solomon. Wait a minute, laughs Virgil. Is this one of those Da Vinci Code deals? The secret scroll, the blockbuster revelation, the teams of murderous bad guys? Should I be boning up on my Bible verses? He looks at the cop. She's not laughing.

Deadline: Virgil Flowers, Book 8

In Southeast Minnesota, down on the Mississippi, a school board meeting is coming to an end. The board chairman announces that the rest of the meeting will be closed, due to personnel issues. "Issues" is correct. The proposal up for a vote before them is whether to authorize the killing of a local reporter. The vote is four to one in favor.

Storm Prey: A Lucas Davenport Novel

Very early, 4:45, on a bitterly cold Minnesota morning, three big men burst through the door of a hospital pharmacy, duct-tape the hands, feet, mouth, and eyes of two pharmacy workers, and clean the place out. But then things swiftly go bad, one of the workers dies, and the robbers hustle out to their truck-and find themselves for just one second face-to-face with a blond woman in the garage: Weather Karkinnen, surgeon, wife of an investigator named Lucas Davenport.

Silken Prey: Lucas Davenport, Book 23

Very early one morning, a Minnesota political fixer answers his doorbell. The next thing he knows, he’s waking up on the floor of a moving car, lying on a plastic sheet, his body wet with blood. When the car stops, a voice says, "Hey, I think he’s breathing." And another voice says, "Yeah? Give me the bat." And that’s the last thing he knows. Davenport is investigating another case when the trail leads to the man’s disappearance, then - very troublingly - to the Minneapolis police department, then - most troublingly of all - to a woman who could give Machiavelli lessons.

Stolen Prey

.Lucas Davenport has seen many terrible murder scenes. This is one of the worst. In the small Minnesota town of Deephaven, an entire family has been killed - husband, wife, two daughters, dogs. There’s something about the scene that pokes at Lucas’s cop instincts - it looks an awful lot like the kind of scorched-earth retribution he’s seen in drug killings sometimes. But this is a seriously upscale town, and the husband was an executive vice president at a big bank. It just doesn’t seem to fit.

Buried Prey

A house demolition provides an unpleasant surprise for Minneapolis - the bodies of two girls, wrapped in plastic. It looks like they've been there a long time. Lucas Davenport knows exactly how long.In 1985, Davenport was a young cop with a reputation for recklessness, and the girls' disappearance was a big deal. His bosses ultimately declared the case closed, but he never agreed with that. Now that he has a chance to investigate it all over again, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: It wasn't just the bodies that were buried. It was the truth.

Gathering Prey: Prey, Book 25

They call them Travelers. They move from city to city, panhandling, committing no crimes - they just like to stay on the move. And now somebody is killing them. Lucas Davenport's adopted daughter, Letty, is home from college when she gets a phone call from a woman Traveler she'd befriended in San Francisco. The woman thinks somebody's killing her friends, she's afraid she knows who it is, and now her male companion has gone missing.

Wicked Prey

The Republicans are coming to St. Paul for their convention. Throwing a big party is supposed to be fun, but crashing the party are a few hard cases the police would rather have stayed away. Chief among them is a crew of professional stick-up men who've spotted several lucrative opportunities, ranging from political moneymen with briefcases full of cash to that armored-car warehouse with the weakness in its security system.

Field of Prey: Lucas Davenport, Book 24

The night after the fourth of July, Layton Carlson, Jr., of Red Wing, Minnesota, finally got lucky. And unlucky.

He’d picked the perfect spot to lose his virginity to his girlfriend, an abandoned farmyard in the middle of cornfields: nice, private, and quiet. The only problem was...something smelled bad - like, really bad. He mentioned it to a county deputy he knew, and when the cop took a look, he found a body stuffed down a cistern. And then another, and another. By the time Lucas Davenport was called in, the police were up to 15 bodies and counting.

Invisible Prey

In the richest neighborhood of Minneapolis, two elderly women lie murdered in their home, killed with a pipe, the rooms tossed, only small items stolen. It is clearly the random work of someone looking for money to buy drugs. But as Davenport looks more closely, he begins to wonder whether the items are actually so small and the victims so random; if there might not be some invisible agenda at work here. Gradually, a pattern begins to emerge, and it leads him to...certainly nothing he ever expected.

Broken Prey

The "Big Three" are a trio of inmates locked up in the Minnesota Security Hospital over the years, each a particularly vicious serial killer, each with his own distinct style and propensities. Everybody feels much safer knowing that they're behind bars. Except...there's a new killer on the loose. And his handiwork bears a disturbing resemblance to some of the finer points practiced by the Big Three, details that never even made the papers.

Hidden Prey

Six months ago, Lucas Davenport tackled his first case as a statewide troubleshooter, and he thought that one was plenty strange enough. But that was before the Russian got killed. On the shore of Lake Superior, a man named Vladimir Oleshev is found shot dead, three holes in his head and heart, and though nobody knows why he was killed, everybody - the local cops, the FBI, and the Russians themselves - has a theory. And when it turns out he had very high government connections, that's when it hits the fan.

Naked Prey: Lucas Davenport, Book 14

In Naked Prey, John Sandford puts Lucas Davenport through some changes. His old boss, Rose Marie Roux, has moved up to the state level and taken Lucas with her. In addition, Lucas is now married and a new father, both of which are fine with him: He doesn't mind being a family man. But he is a little worried. For every bit of peace you get, you have to pay - and he's waiting for the bill. It comes in the form of two people found hanging from a tree in the woods of northern Minnesota. What makes it particularly sensitive is that the bodies are of a black man and a white woman, and they're naked....

Mortal Prey

Years ago, Lucas Davenport almost died at the hands of Clara Rinker, a pleasant, soft-spoken, low-key Southerner, and the best hitwoman in the business. Now retired and living in Mexico, she nearly dies herself when a sniper kills her boyfriend, the son of a local druglord, and while the boy's father vows vengeance, Rinker knows something he doesn't: The boy wasn't the target, she was, and now she is going to have to disappear to find the killer herself.

Easy Prey: Lucas Davenport, Book 11

In life she was a high-profile model. In death she is the focus of a media firestorm that's demanding action from Lucas Davenport. One of his own men is a suspect in her murder. But when a series of bizarre, seemingly unrelated slayings rock the city, Davenport suspects a connection that runs deeper than anyone had imagined - one that leads to an ingenious killer more ruthless than anyone had feared....

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John Sandford's best-selling Lucas Davenport series continues with the fast-paced, compelling thriller, Night Prey. A series of deaths leads to the possibility of a brutal serial killer of unusual skill and savagery. And if Lucas is right, the killer is just getting warmed up....

Winter Prey

Few writers have explored the human dark side with as much insight and power - and in Winter Prey, his shattering New York Times best-seller, Sandford tells his most ice-blooded tale of all. Minneapolis Lieutenant Lucas Davenport has tracked killers in cities across America. But even he may be unprepared to face the savage murderer hunting human prey in the Wisconsin woods this winter.

Certain Prey

Her name is Clara Rinker, a southern woman, trim, pleasant, attractive, and the best hit woman in the business. She isn't showy; she just goes quietly about her business, collects her money, and goes home. It's when she's hired for a job in Minnesota that things become complicated for her. A defense attorney wants a rival eliminated, and that's fine. But then a witness survives, the attorney starts acting weird, this big cop Davenport gets on her case, and loose ends begin popping up faster than on an unraveling sweater

Publisher's Summary

Virgil Flowers kicked around for a while before joining the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. First it was the army and the military police, then the police in St. Paul, and finally Lucas Davenport brought him into the BCA, promising him, "We'll only give you the hard stuff."

He's been doing the hard stuff for three years now, but never anything like this.

In the small town of Bluestem, a house way up on a ridge explodes into flames, its owner, a man named Judd, trapped inside. There are a lot of reasons to hate him, Flowers discovers. In fact, he concludes, you'd probably have to dig around to find a person who doesn't despise Judd.

And that isn't even why Flowers came to Bluestem. Three weeks before, there'd been another murder, two, in fact, a doctor and his wife, the doctor found propped up in his backyard, both eyes shot out. Flowers knows two things: this wasn't a coincidence, and it had to be personal.

But just how personal is something even he doesn't realize, and may not find out until too late. Because the next victim may be himself.

A real treat, this newest of John Sandford, and I've listened to them all. Full of twists and surprises. I finished and immediately replayed it, to listen for clues and connections I missed the first time around (many!). The narrator doesn't have Richard Ferrone's gravelly voice, but has an effective tone and pace of his own that I got used to within a few minutes. Appropriately, he sounds just like midwesterners I've known, so his characters are convincing and the narration is enjoyable. Yup, a real treat!

I'm one of those listeners who buys the Davenport audiobooks the day they are released. So I admit to being a little skeptical - and concerned - when I learned that Sandford would publish a book without Lucas as its main character. Trusting that the author wouldn't completely abandon his loyal base, though, I took a chance on this book and was happily surprised.

For one thing, this is a Lucas Davenport universe. Our favorite detective makes a few phone cameos, and Flowers works for him. The setting is upper mid-west, with all its local flavor.

Flowers is an intriguing character. The son of a preacher, he ponders God each night before he drifts off to sleep and can quote bible verses with the best of 'em, yet he's not really religious, at least not in any outward way. He has an innovative way of trying to solve crimes by writing pseudo-fictional stories which include facsimiles of himself, his suspects, and the victims, basically asking himself, "If I were writing a story about this crime, what would come next? What about this 'story' doesn't make sense?"

But Flowers is also battle-worn, tough, cynical, and funny. His personality is a lot like Lucas's, so again, Davenport readers won't have to do a 180 to get to like the new guy.

Like most folks, I'd be happy if Sandford only wrote Prey books, but if writing Flowers books helps Sandford avoid Prey burnout, I have no problem with reading more about Flowers' adventures.

As an avid Lucas Davenport fan and absolute lover of Richard Ferrone's gravelly baritone, I was a little leery of Sandford's last offering. But I absolutely loved it from the bone chilling start to the satisfying finish. Unlike Lucas Davenport, who we all love, but frankly know too well, Virgil Flowers comes into this novel as a vaguely familiar character who we learn to appreciate as the mystery unfolds. A couple of cameos by Davenport make it feel like a familiar Prey sequel. And contrary to some other reviewers, I Thought Eric Conger's narration was simply perfect.

This is classic John Sandford read (or listen in this case). He uses Det. Virgil Flowers as the protagonist instead of Lucas Davenport, but he has the usual interesting story with lots of bodies and a mystery to boot. Flowers makes an interesting kind of hero and the rural Minnesota ambience is well done. I enjoyed this immensely. Just the kind of thing for a long road trip.

I purchased Dark Of The Moon not realizing that I had already read the book previously. Since I almost never reread even very good books, I was disappointed and almost tossed it back on the shelf. Still, having paid good money and all....

As it turned out, even with the drawback of knowing exactly where the book was going, I still had a great time listening. Sandford writes wonderful characters, not just Flowers and Davenport, but all the supporting players. They are sketched deftly with artful details and they are always consistent. In addition, his plots are tightly constructed, and his action sequences remain tense even when you know what the outcome will be. In fact it was a pleasure to be able to pay somewhat closer attention to how the author fashioned the whole story from beginning to end.

I am glad Richard Ferrone did not do this narration. I love his work on the Davenport books, but Flowers needed a voice which was not a constant reminder of Lucas. The reader did a fine job, and Virgil now has a very satisfying vocal persona of his own. I loved the subtle variation in midwestern accent which Conger used to define character, and I never had any problem knowing who was speaking.

John Sandford trots out a new detective, Virgil Flowers, in the Dark of the Moon. A bit player in one of Sandford's previous Prey books, Flowers holds his own as a down-home, good old boy detective tasked with solving a series of gruesome murders in rural Bluestem, Minnesota. The mystery roars along in typical Sandford fashion while Virgil's romance with the sister of the small town's sheriff heats up. I am no fan of romance novels but the steamy love scene in a secluded swimming hole is, well, hot until a sniper shows up to spoil the fun. While Sandford's usual hero, Lucas Davenport, is a sophisticated and suave solver of crimes, Flowers is more plodding, but no less heroic. Like Lucas in his early appearances, Flowers is a definite Tom Cat with an eye for the ladies. This fast-paced mystery contains one of the finest shoot-outs in modern detective fiction with Flowers coming off as a fearless fighter as he participates in a DEA raid on a drug lab. One of the most engaging features of the novel is the camaraderie among law enforcement types that permeates the book. Sandford has Lucas Davenport make only brief appearances in this outing, appearances in which Davenport generally comes off as annoyed at Flowers for bothering him too early. Still, Sandford has another winner with the Flowers character and I look forward to Virgil's next adventure. Before Sandford pens that one, I'd like to seem him resurrect one of his earliest and greatest crimer solvers, Kidd. Armed with today's staggering technology, a Kidd mystery would be irresistible.

I liked this story a lot. I loved the mystery and the way it kept me guessing right up until the very end, and in this book, I was guessing literally until the last couple of sentences which was a nice twist. I liked getting to know Virgil, I have started listening to the next book.

My experience with any series (books or television) is that the first book or first episode aren't as good as the rest of the series. I've learned to give it time for the character to develop. This series shows a lot of promise.

The narrator was a little too monotone for me. After listening to 17 books read by Dick Hill, I'm a tough critic there.

There were just a couple things that were annoying in the story--I didn't love the part where he is writing a mystery book on the side. I got a little confused each time that happened.

I also didn't find his womanizing charming. I get that for a detective's character to be developed that it needs some flaws, but there were a couple of comments about women that made me go "ewww." Hopefully that part of his character gets down played in future books, or made sexy or something instead.

A fairly 'by-the-numbers' detective mystery - from the hero picking up the best looking woman in town within minutes, to the religious nuts and their dark secret - the characters conform to well-known stereotypes. Entertainment if nothing too demanding is required.

I found the narrator's voice somewhat monotone; sometimes finding it difficult to distinguish between some of the characters.

There appears to be an editing error in part two where the narrator mis-reads a line and re-reads it that has been left un-edited. Otherwise audio quality is good.

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